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Friday, September 2, 2011

VATICAN CITY, 2 SEP 2011 (VIS) - Benedict XVI has written a message to Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, for the twelfth Inter-Christian Symposium, which is being held in the Greek city of Thessaloniki from 30 August to 2 September on the theme: "The witness of the Church in the modern world". The event has been promoted by the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality at the "Antonianum" Pontifical Athenaeum in Rome and by the Orthodox Theological Faculty at the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki.

Commenting on the choice of theme, the Pope writes: "Over the course of the centuries the Church has never ceased to proclaim the salvific mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet today that announcement needs to be renewed in many of the regions which first accepted it, and which are currently experiencing the effects of a secularisation capable of impoverishing the most profound aspects of man".

The Holy Father goes on: "In the modern world we are witnessing two contradictory phenomena. On the one hand there is a widespread disinterest, even a lack of sensibility, towards transcendence while, on the other, many signs suggest that a profound nostalgia for God persists in the hearts of many, expressing itself in various ways".

The current cultural, social and economic environment "presents the same challenges to both Catholics and Orthodox. The ideas that emerge from this symposium will, then, have an important ecumenical impact. ... Reciprocal understanding of one another's traditions and sincere friendship are, in themselves, a contribution to the cause of Christian unity".

Finally Benedict XVI, recalling how the city of Thessaloniki is indissolubly associated with the preaching of the Apostle of the Gentiles, expresses the hope that the evangelisers of the modern world will be moved by the same apostolic zeal as St. Paul.
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VATICAN CITY, 2 SEP 2011 (VIS) - Following is a list of Pope Benedict's activities during the month of August. It includes the Angelus, general and private audiences, other pontifical acts, letters, messages, telegrams and other news. The activities are presented in chronological order under their respective headings.

ANGELUS

- 31 July: Commenting on the Gospel narrative of the feeding of the multitude, the Holy Father highlights how Christ "reminds us that we cannot remain indifferent in the face of those who suffer hunger and thirst, and calls on us to share our bread with those in need".

- 7 August: The Pope expresses his concern at violence in Syria. He invited Catholics to pray for peace and calls for peaceful coexistence and respect for the legitimate aspirations of citizens. He also mentions the conflict in Libya, exhorting international organisations and people in positions of political and military authority to relaunch a peace plan for the country.

- 14: Benedict XVI focuses on St. Maximilian Kolbe, who was martyred in the concentration camp of Auschwitz seventy years ago today. The saint's heroic love is a sign of the victorious presence of God in the human drama of hatred, suffering and death.

- 15: The Holy Father explains that today's Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin represents a mystery of hope and joy for us all, because Mary is the goal for everyone who follows Jesus.

- 21: At the closing Mass for World Youth Day (WYD) in Madrid, the Pope prays the Angelus with young people and announces that the next WYD will be held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2013.

- 28: At the final Angelus of August, Benedict XVI recalls the importance of taking up our cross to follow Christ, humbly accepting the Word and allowing ourselves to be transformed internally in order to discern the will of God.

WEDNESDAY GENERAL AUDIENCES

- 3: The Pope invites faithful gathered at the Apostolic Palace of Castelgandolfo to read the Bible during this holiday period, focusing both on the Gospel narratives and on less familiar passages.

- 10: Continuing a series of catecheses on the subject of prayer, Benedict XVI turns his attention to the monasteries, "oases of the spirit" where mediation is facilitated by silence and by the beauty of creation.

- 17: The Holy Father focuses his catechesis on prayer and on dedicating time to God, as fundamental elements for spiritual growth.

- 24: Benedict XVI recalls the recent World Youth Day in Madrid, describing it as a magnificent expression of faith, both for Spain and for the whole world. He also announces the themes of forthcoming World Youth Days. Next year, when WYD will be celebrated at the diocesan level, the theme will be "Joy always in the Lord", while WYD 2013 in Rio de Janeiro will have as its theme: "Go and make disciples of all nations".

WORLD YOUTH DAY

Between 18 and 21 August the Holy Father made an apostolic trip to Madrid, Spain, where he presided at the twenty-sixth World Youth Day. Arriving at the airport of Barajas, he was greeted by the king and queen of Spain as well as by Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, archbishop of Madrid, by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and by other ecclesiastical and civil authorities.

In his remarks during the welcome ceremony, Benedict XVI said that he had come to Madrid "to motivate the commitment to build up the Kingdom of God in the world among us. ... The discovery of the living God inspires young people and opens their eyes to the challenges of the world in which they live. ... They know that, without God, it would be hard to confront these challenges and to be truly happy. ... World Youth Day brings us a message of hope like a pure and youthful breeze, with rejuvenating scents which fill us with confidence before the future of the Church and the world".

At 7.30 p.m. he went to Plaza de Cibeles where youth from all over the world were gathered. He greeted them in a number of languages, inviting them above all "to seek the Truth, which is not an idea or an ideology or a slogan, but a person: Christ".

On Friday 19 August, after celebrating Mass privately in the chapel of the apostolic nunciature, Benedict XVI paid a courtesy visit to the monarchs in the Palacio de la Zarzuela. He then went on to the basilica of San Lorenzo de El Escorial where he met with thousands of religious from various congregations, including contemplative orders. "Your lives", he told them, "must testify to the personal encounter with Christ which has nourished your consecration, and to all the transforming power of that encounter. This is all the more important today when we see a certain 'eclipse of God' taking place, a kind of amnesia which, albeit not an outright rejection of Christianity, is nonetheless a denial of the treasure of our faith".

At the basilica of San Lorenzo de El Escorial the Pope also had occasion to meet young academics who were participating in WYD. "The university has always been, and is always called to be, the 'house' where one seeks the truth proper to the human person", he told them. "Consequently it was not by accident that the Church promoted the universities. ... The university thus embodies an ideal which must not be attenuated or compromised, whether by ideologies closed to reasoned dialogue or by truckling to a purely utilitarian and economic conception". Catholic university professors must be "committed to teaching the faith and making it credible to human reason. And we do this not simply by our teaching, but by the way we live our faith and embody it. ... Young people need authentic teachers: persons open to the fullness of truth".

That evening, having met with Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the Pope returned to Plaza de Cibeles where he presided at the Way of the Cross. After the ceremony he addressed the young people present, encouraging them to help the less fortunate. "You are open to the idea of sharing your lives with others, so be sure not to pass by on the other side in the face of human suffering, for it is here that God expects you to give of your very best: your capacity for love and compassion".

Benedict XVI began Saturday 20 August by hearing confession from a number of pilgrims in Madrid's Jardines del Buen Retiro. The Jardines were hosting the Festival of Forgiveness with more than 200 mobile confessionals in which priests from all over the world were hearing confession from young people.

At 10 a.m. that day the Holy Father presided at a Mass for seminarians in the cathedral of Santa Maria la Real de la Almudena. The years of prreparation for the priesthood, said the Pope in his homily, "should be years of interior silence, of unceasing prayer, of constant study and of gradual insertion into the pastoral activity and structures of the Church. A Church which is community and institution, family and mission, the creation of Christ, ... as well as the result of those of us who shape it through our holiness and our sins. God, Who does not hesitate to make of the poor and of sinners His friends and instruments for the redemption of the human race, willed it so. ... We have to be saints so as not to create a contradiction between the sign that we are and the reality that we wish to signify".

That afternoon the Pope met with the WYD organising committees at the apostolic nunciature before going on to visit the Fundacion Instituto San Jose which serves people with physical and mental disabilities. "These witnesses", he said in his remarks, "speak to us, first and foremost, of the dignity of all human life, created in the image of God. No suffering can efface this divine image imprinted in the depths of our humanity".

At 8.30 p.m. Benedict XVI presided at a prayer vigil with young people at the airport of Cuatro Vientos. "Be afraid neither of the world, nor of the future, nor of your weakness", he told them. "The Lord has allowed you to live in this moment of history so that, by your faith, His name will continue to resound throughout the world".

On Sunday 21 August, the Holy Father presided at the closing Mass for World Youth Day. He invited young people to consolidate their faith and to place Christ at the centre of their lives, bearing witness to Him in all times and places.

Following an afternoon meeting with WYD volunteers, whom he thanked for their services, the Pope left Spain calling on young people to spread throughout the world the profound and joyful experience of faith they had had in Madrid.

LETTERS, MESSAGES AND TELEGRAMS

- 22: Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. sends a telegram, in the name of the Holy Father, to participants in the thirty-second "Meeting for Friendship among Peoples" which is being held in Rimini, Italy, from 22 to 28 August.

- 23: Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone sends a message, in the name of the Holy Father, to participants in the forty-second Italian National Liturgical Week, being held in Trieste from 22 to 26 August.

- 27: Telegrams of condolence to Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the United Nations and to Goodluck Jonathan, president of Nigeria, for an attack against a United Nations facility in Abuja which caused scores of deaths and injuries.

- 27: Publication of three Letters, all dated 2 July, in which the Holy Father appoints: Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Bishops, as his special envoy to the twenty-fifth Italian National Eucharistic Congress, due to take place in the city of Ancona from 3 to 11 September; Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, as his special envoy to celebrations marking the millennium of the abbey of Santissima Trinita di Cava, Italy, due to take place on 4 September, and Cardinal Jozef Tomko, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, as his special envoy to the closing celebrations of the Jubilee year marking the 600th anniversary of the "Eucharistic miracle of Ludbreg", due to take place at the shrine of Ludbreg in the diocese of Varazdin, Croatia, on 4 September.

- 27: Telegram of condolence for the death of Cardinal Aloysius Matthew Ambrozic, archbishop emeritus of Toronto, Canada.

OTHER NEWS

- 9: Concert at the Apostolic Palace of Castelgandolfo in honour of the Holy Father and his brother Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, to mark the sixtieth anniversary of their ordination to the priesthood.

- 15: For the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin, the Pope celebrates Mass and pronounces a homily in the parish church of St. Thomas of Villanova in Castelgandolfo.

- 28: The Holy Father presides at Mass in the Mariapoli centre of Castelgandolfo, to mark the close of the traditional summer seminar of his ex students (the "Ratzinger Schulerkreis"), which this year focused on the theme of new evangelisation.

- 31: Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci, former director of the Choir of the Sistine Chapel, offers a concert in honour of the Holy Father at the Apostolic Palace of Castelgandolfo.

AUDIENCES

- 30 July: The Holy Father receives in audience a delegation from the municipal council of Traunstein, Germany.

- 13 August: The Holy Father receives in audience Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, president of the German Episcopal Conference, accompanied by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and Freising, Bishop Franz-Josef Hermann Bode of Osnabruck, and Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck of Essen.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

- 4: Appointment of Bishop Stefan Secka, auxiliary of Spis, Slovakia, as bishop of the same diocese. He succeeds Bishop Frantisek Tondra, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- 6: Appointment of Archbishop Bruno Musaro, apostolic nuncio to Peru, as apostolic nuncio to Cuba. Appointment of Bishop Salvador Pineiro Garcia-Calderon, military ordinary for Peru, as archbishop of Ayacucho, Peru. He succeeds Archbishop Luis Abilio Sebastiani Aguirre S.M., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- 8: Resignation of Bishop Alberto Campos Hernandez O.F.M. from the pastoral care of the apostolic vicariate of San Jose de Amazonas, Peru, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law. Appointment of Bishop Miguel Olaortua Laspra O.S.A., apostolic vicar of Iquitos, Peru, as apostolic administrator "sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis" of the same apostolic vicariate.

- 11: Resignation of Archbishop Karl Hesse M.S.C. from the pastoral care of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. He is succeeded by Coadjutor Archbishop Francesco Panfilo S.D.B.

- 13: The Holy Father gives his assent to the canonical election carried out by the Synod of Bishops of the Maronite Church of Msgr. Hanna Alwan M.L., prelate auditor of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, and of Fr. Camille Zaidan, "protosincellus" (vicar general) of the archieparchy of Antelias of the Maronites, Lebanon, as curial bishops.

- 20: Resignation of Bishop Michael Gower Coleman from the pastoral care of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law. Appointment of Fr. James Brendan Deenihan as apostolic administrator "sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis" of the same diocese.

- 27: Appointment of Bishop Ulises Antonio Gutierrez Reyes of Carora, Venezuela, as metropolitan archbishop of Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela. He succeeds Archbishop Medardo Luis Luzardo Romero, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit. Appointment of Bishop Thierry Brac de la Perriere, auxiliary of Lyon, France, as bishop of Nevers, France. He succeeds Bishop Francis Deniau, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- 29: Resignation of Cardinal John Patrick Foley from the office of grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. Appointment of Archbishop Edwin Frederick O'Brien of Baltimore, U.S.A. as pro-grand master of the same Order.

- 30: Appointment of Bishop Rafael Zornoza Boy, auxiliary of Getafe, Spain, as bishop of Cadiz y Ceuta, Spain. He succeeds Bishop Antonio Ceballos Atienza, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
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VATICAN CITY, 2 SEP 2011 (VIS) - Following is a chronological presentation of Holy See-related activities for the month of August:

- 2: The Holy See Press Office releases a communique on the controversy between the Croatian diocese of Porec i Pula, and the Benedictine monastery of Praglia in Italy. The communique, explaining that the issue is purely ecclesiastical, refers back to the decision approved by the Pope in December 2010.
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